New PM6+ User - Catalog Strategy

[canon_txtrack]

Purchased PM+ today. Spent a week with the trial, time to put in action.

Background.....

1) Motorsport Event Photographer - 98+% of my work. 44+ weekends a year, all local amateur events.

2) Workflow....Shoot an event (2K to 24K images generated PER weekend, depending on number of attendees and if I have assistant photogs). Download all cards to Macbook Pro. Long time user of iView Multimedia Pro (several licenses before the sale to Microsoft). Use iView MP to ingest/sort/keyword/rename images into folders for uploading to self hosted server (website uses PicturesPro Photocart, now using Sytist). I sell on Monday and the week after (and sometimes longer, but rarely) to those customers that attended. It's like the candy bars/gum at the checkout aisle. Get the images online as fast as possible for purchase so the attendees can show all the cool motorsports toys as well as their driving/riding abilities. This generates 55-60+ catalogs per year. Really don't have cross sales from events, nor cross sales at all really.

Still have this workflow going (have Macs at 10.14.6). Time to upgrade the DAM software, I'm getting to a point where MacOS 10.14.6 is very dated. If iView MediaPro was 64bit, I could keep going.

3) Once images are on my website, the iView MP image catalog (and image file subdirectories) are transferred to my main system where I work. The initial space on the MBP gets erased/recycled.

So....I have one catalog per event, saved (with backup) to hard drive structure. I just buy two 4 terabyte hard drives every year, clone the main one to the backup one, and I'm good. Offline drives are labeled, I just pop them into a SATA dock, search to the event, fire up the catalog to an old event whenever needed.

Didn't purchase PM6+ for cataloging the 'old images'. I'll keep a MAC system going for that using iView MP.

I've trialed several DAM setups in the past few months (ACDsee is about the only other option that was close, but I'm not a fan). I've looked at PM several times over the years (it's been awhile since the last time), but with the iView MP workflow, PM just didn't grab me enough to switch.

Just wondering how Camera Bits staff, and/or anyone who is using the PM+ catalog system would suggest and/or approach this workflow.

Edit to add: I have watched some of the videos from CB and elsewhere, just haven't come across a workflow similar.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts/ideas!

[Kirk Baker]

If I'm understanding you correctly, you have a number of photos that you cull and add metadata to, and then upload to your server.

Do you ever want to search for images after you've processed them?

What kinds of things did/do you do with iView Media Pro and these images?

If the answer is that you just push them through and never work with them again, then just the base Photo Mechanic may be all that you'd really benefit from.

-Kirk

[canon_txtrack]

If I'm understanding you correctly, you have a number of photos that you cull and add metadata to, and then upload to your server.

Yes, images get culled, sorted into sets (corresponding to Groups at the event). Group A, Group B.....etc. Next step is renumbering, then FTP'ing those directories to my server for ingest into the Systist shopping cart.

Do you ever want to search for images after you've processed them?

Yes, I go back to an iView catalog when a customer places an order for 'All My Images'. Most of that happens the week after an event, sometimes other older event orders of this nature trickle in. So....the iView catalog I created for that event I go back to, do a sort to their Group (so I don't search the entire event), then keyword all that participants images I have from a weekend. Those keyworded images get copied out for zip for FTP.

What kinds of things did/do you do with iView Media Pro and these images? If the answer is that you just push them through and never work with them again, then just the base Photo Mechanic may be all that you'd really benefit from.

-Kirk

Thought about that.....but the multiple catalogs option was the draw above the base Photo Mechanic.

What I was wondering on was the idea of still having a catalog per event, as I see PM+ does create a subdirectory catolog structure for the individual catalog option. The speed it can sort groups (via keywords) and then add (individuals) keywords is very appealing, but also the contact sheet interface is very nice for the sorting that I do work with.

Maybe I could narrow it to 8-9 'main' yearly catalogs? One for Event Organizer A (who has 18 events per year), One for Event Organizer B (who has ~32 events per year), and so on.

All the extra things that PM/PM+ can do, the metadata add, the FTP option, etc....already utilizing as I learn.

In the past, I've not really used the color or star culling process, as I'm never really zoning into 'one' perfect image. I don't work that way to start with. Might sound a little cliché, but I don't shoot 1000 images a weekend of 10-15 participants to sell 10 'best' images.....I shoot to sell those 10 participants every image that they want to buy.

Apologies for the TLDR style....but thought more info would be better/more clear.

Thanks for your help!

[Kirk Baker]

If I'm understanding you correctly, you have a number of photos that you cull and add metadata to, and then upload to your server.

Yes, images get culled, sorted into sets (corresponding to Groups at the event). Group A, Group B.....etc. Next step is renumbering, then FTP'ing those directories to my server for ingest into the Systist shopping cart.

Do you ever want to search for images after you've processed them?

Yes, I go back to an iView catalog when a customer places an order for 'All My Images'. Most of that happens the week after an event, sometimes other older event orders of this nature trickle in. So....the iView catalog I created for that event I go back to, do a sort to their Group (so I don't search the entire event), then keyword all that participants images I have from a weekend. Those keyworded images get copied out for zip for FTP.

What kinds of things did/do you do with iView Media Pro and these images? If the answer is that you just push them through and never work with them again, then just the base Photo Mechanic may be all that you'd really benefit from.

-Kirk

Thought about that.....but the multiple catalogs option was the draw above the base Photo Mechanic.

What I was wondering on was the idea of still having a catalog per event, as I see PM+ does create a subdirectory catolog structure for the individual catalog option. The speed it can sort groups (via keywords) and then add (individuals) keywords is very appealing, but also the contact sheet interface is very nice for the sorting that I do work with.

Maybe I could narrow it to 8-9 'main' yearly catalogs? One for Event Organizer A (who has 18 events per year), One for Event Organizer B (who has ~32 events per year), and so on.

I think that could work really well.  You'll just have to be aware that every catalog that you have set to "Add/Modify" will have images added to/removed from it, so when you're not working with the other catalogs, you can leave them set for search, but you should have only one of them set for Add/Modify (unless you're going to use one catalog as a real-time backup for another catalog.)

All the extra things that PM/PM+ can do, the metadata add, the FTP option, etc....already utilizing as I learn.

It's good to ease into things.

In the past, I've not really used the color or star culling process, as I'm never really zoning into 'one' perfect image. I don't work that way to start with. Might sound a little cliché, but I don't shoot 1000 images a weekend of 10-15 participants to sell 10 'best' images.....I shoot to sell those 10 participants every image that they want to buy.

Understood.  They'll know best what appeals to them.

-Kirk